I have just returned from a visit to the Macedonian minority in Greece. I stayed in a pretty city called Florina/Lerin that is in a province in the
north of the Greek state and where the majority of the population is Macedonian. However, due to my experience there, I am not sure any more if this
is the EU I thought I knew or a century where the minimum civil and human rights of an individual/community are enshrined in law (in Europe, at least!)

I spent four days in the region and this was enough to get a glimpse of how the Macedonian minority in Greece live in their everyday life.

When I arrived in Greece (Thessaloniki/Solun) I met some Rainbow representatives, who are also members of the EFA. They briefly explained to me the
political situation.

They provided me with some ideas of what to expect, so that I could understand a little of what the every day reality was like of being a Macedonian
minority member living under the Greek government. They tried to explain to me how the Greek government actively pursues an effective assimilation
policy that makes the Macedonian population feel ashamed and scared to be who they are – including the identification of themselves as Macedonians!

The Greek assimilation policy has obvious visible effects - from the personal/individual level through to the public sphere. The Greek government does
not even recognize the existence of the Mecedonian minority, so their lack of democratic, civil and human rights acquires enormous magnitude. This
assimilation process is designed to be as effective as possible.

During my trip to the region I tried to talk with as many people as possible in order to discover for myself the reality of the situation and to compare
what I discovered to what I had been told by the representatives of Rainbow and other information I had collated from international NGO's and their
representatives.

It's hard for me to grasp the idea that people would refuse to even talk about their own identity. It was even harder for me to understand that the
Macedonian minority were afraid to even air their most basic rights (e.g. recognition of identity, freedom to speak their own language etc.), because
of the risk that it could lead to bitter conflict and maybe war!! The shadow of the manipulated lie that spreads from the Greekgovernment, which says
that the recognition of the Macedonian identity and the subsequent rights is a tool to achieve the liberation of the region from Greece and the
unification with Macedonia, was becoming only too apparent to me. It was becoming obvious that this was not only an excuse to avoid the recognition of
the Macedonian minority in Greece, but also an excuse to continue to pursue an aggressive assimilation policy. It became clear to me that this was the
reason why many Macedonians refuse to uphold their identity and language rights.

The representatives of Rainbow are doing a fantastic job of denouncing the unjust policies of the Greek government towards the Macedonian minority. But
as is often the case with minority group issues, their incredible effort to bring their plight to the attention of the international community is not
always met with the response that they perhaps expected. Therefore, the Macedonian minority must once again expendhuge effort in attracting the
attention of international agencies that may be able to help their community to live a ‘normal’ life. They are certainly fighting against the tide.

The European Union and all the supra state institutions seem to be ignoring the problem. Once again the EU is turning a blind eye to those unjust
realities that take place within the domestic sphere of the ‘untouchable’ member state. How can Europe accept and tolerate such abuse of its people’s?
How is it possible to happily accommodate a state such as Greece in the EU, when it is obviously mistreating itsMacedonian population to such an extent
that it is often denounced for human rights violations by international NGO's? How can it be possible that the EU accepts as a member, a state that
pursues racist and xenophobic laws? I continually asked myself during my visit, what does "Hellenic Democracy" mean to the people living on the border
of Macedonia and Greece? Hellenic democracy, rather than being theaffirmation of the democratic status of the state, must therefore be, according to
the Greek view of it, THE LACK OF ELEMENTAL DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS OF A REGIME.

The EU should change its overly tolerant attitude and ask the Greek government to change its assimilationist policy towards the Macedonian minority and
demand that the Macedonians in Greece are given the democratic and human rights they deserve.